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Classical Electric Bass

thatjazzbassguy

thatjazzbassguy

Oct 23, 2021
54
35
London
#1
Hi all,

I've been going through an instruction book by Sebastien Jean called Solo for Bass guitar: Adaptation of Baroque and Classical works for electric bass and I was wondering if anyone else has any experience in playing classical music for the bass (electric) and what is your set up? Any specific basses or strings that are worth pointing out?

Thank you!
 
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#2
Most of the classical pieces for bass guitar I have found feel incomplete. Normally just playing one voice so it misses out on potential.

I normally use classical guitar transcriptions and directly transcribe them to bass. You do have to be a little picky though because some pieces are just going to sound too muddy. Like Villa Lobos's Etude 1. But others sound pretty good like Tárrega's Recuerdos de Alambra. Most Bach and Sor works.

I prefer using a 6 string bass tuned like a guitar. Most of the time I end up using a capo on the 5th fret because my bass has a low B string. The only capo i could find that fits a six string is a Spider Capo. Spider Capo let's you individually capo strings which gives some different choices for your open strings.

My alternate plan would probably be to get a Fender Bass VI.
 
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#3
James Collins said:
Most of the classical pieces for bass guitar I have found feel incomplete. Normally just playing one voice so it misses out on potential.

I normally use classical guitar transcriptions and directly transcribe them to bass. You do have to be a little picky though because some pieces are just going to sound too muddy. Like Villa Lobos's Etude 1. But others sound pretty good like Tárrega's Recuerdos de Alambra. Most Bach and Sor works.

I prefer using a 6 string bass tuned like a guitar. Most of the time I end up using a capo on the 5th fret because my bass has a low B string. The only capo i could find that fits a six string is a Spider Capo. Spider Capo let's you individually capo strings which gives some different choices for your open strings.

My alternate plan would probably be to get a Fender Bass VI.
Click to expand...

There's a guy on Youtube who does Chopin Nocturns on a Bass VI. Very impressive. I'll see if I can dig up a link.




Edit - I was confused, these are two different guys. Both good though.
 
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#5
bholder said:
Different guy, this is a popular piece for basss:

Click to expand...

That was really good. I play a lot of Bach on classical guitar and have started trying to work it over to bass. I have a book of transcriptions, but that one is way better.

Of course, then there's this guy. Joel Quarrington. Monster upright player.

 
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#7
I don't like classical pieces on electric bass. Sounds much better on classical guitar or cello or upright bowed. The sound of the bass is not really suited for it I think. And most bass players don't really know how to interprete classical music and just play the notes with wrong phrasing etc. I have rarely heard a decent interpretation. Even some famous players fail. Just as playing others styles of music (maybe even more) classical needs years of devoted study. The pieces are nice as a technical challenge though.
 
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#8
Yeah I think you nailed it. From a technical challenge I think it's interesting to tackle it on the electric bass but in terms of "sound" I agree that the upright bass has more the tonal qualities that are suited for classical playing.
Always good to see so many talented people sharing their interpretations tho and to be expanding the bass repertoire

Les Fret said:
I don't like classical pieces on electric bass. Sounds much better on classical guitar or cello or upright bowed. The sound of the bass is not really suited for it I think. And most bass players don't really know how to interprete classical music and just play the notes with wrong phrasing etc. I have rarely heard a decent interpretation. Even some famous players fail. Just as playing others styles of music (maybe even more) classical needs years of devoted study. The pieces are nice as a technical challenge though.
Click to expand...
 
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#9
There's a lot of good bassoon and trombone music waiting for you. If you can deal with treble clef, Oboe solos are very good. Mostly they use shorter notes and a more limited range than cello.
Etudes are also a great source for music not originally conceived for bass. Get an Arban book for Trombone and you find many good melodies from the 1800's and some really challenging etudes (Characteristic Studies).
 
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#10
If you are at advanced level tow handed tapping, you can try Stu Hamm's Moonlight Sonata. it's sound sounds amazing but insanely hard. I gave up on that one.
I can play Turkish March pretty well except for the the really fast arpeggiated part in the middle at full speed. I can play most of Beethoven's Fur Elise and 5th Symphony.
I like to use a Jazz bass with the rear pickup soloed and the tone at half. It really brings out fast staccato notes.
Although a P bass with flats sounds pretty great too. That guy playing Cello Suit No. 1 on an 60's p bass is pretty epic. He does a couple of bends to hit the right notes that a four string can't hit.
 
#11
Spirit of Ox said:
If you are at advanced level tow handed tapping, you can try Stu Hamm's Moonlight Sonata. it's sound sounds amazing but insanely hard. I gave up on that one.
I can play Turkish March pretty well except for the the really fast arpeggiated part in the middle at full speed. I can play most of Beethoven's Fur Elise and 5th Symphony.
I like to use a Jazz bass with the rear pickup soloed and the tone at half. It really brings out fast staccato notes.
Although a P bass with flats sounds pretty great too. That guy playing Cello Suit No. 1 on an 60's p bass is pretty epic. He does a couple of bends to hit the right notes that a four string can't hit.
Click to expand...

Great advice especially on your jazz bass set up! Did not think the bridge pickup would be an option! Thank you
 
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#12
thatjazzbassguy said:
Hi all,

I've been going through an instruction book by Sebastien Jean called Solo for Bass guitar: Adaptation of Baroque and Classical works for electric bass and I was wondering if anyone else has any experience in playing classical music for the bass (electric) and what is your set up? Any specific basses or strings that are worth pointing out?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Here is my modest attempt at Suite I Prelude. There are a few others I play (Suite 3 Bourree I/II, Suite V Sarabande) but this is the only one recorded:
 
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#14
thatjazzbassguy said:
Hi all,

I've been going through an instruction book by Sebastien Jean called Solo for Bass guitar: Adaptation of Baroque and Classical works for electric bass and I was wondering if anyone else has any experience in playing classical music for the bass (electric) and what is your set up? Any specific basses or strings that are worth pointing out?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

The only classical piece I played (besides. "A 5th of 'Beethoven" LOL) was 'Mars" from the Planets by Gustov Holtz. A totally incredibly repititious part in 5/4 performed using a non descript Japanese bass and and Ampeg Reverberocket with a bad attitude. LOL!!
 
#17
Pings Bass said:
...
If you want to actually play classical music on a bass guitar, that's not really a thing.
...
Click to expand...

Well no, not really. The greatest composer of all time, J.S.Bach, was a master of transcription, arranging the same music for various and diverse ensembles, instruments, settings and purposes. For us as bass guitarists there is as much, if not more, to be gained from going through the process as there is from maybe achieving a passable result. Especially given the relative scarcity of good quality benchmarks.

Edit: Unless of course you mean actually playing standard rep on bass guitar in an orchestra, in which case, yes 100% agree. But then I doubt anyone really had that in mind... :thumbsup:
 
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#18
SteveCS said:
Well no, not really. The greatest composer of all time, J.S.Bach, was a master of transcription, arranging the same music for various and diverse ensembles, instruments, settings and purposes. For us as bass guitarists there is as much, if not more, to be gained from going through the process as there is from maybe achieving a passable result. Especially given the relative scarcity of good quality benchmarks.
Click to expand...
Playing Bach on any instrument can be a revelatory experience. I highly recommend it. Bonus that cello music can be mostly played unaltered on bass, notwithstanding the C-Eb bottom end not being available on a 4-string bass guitar or a contrabass without a C extension.
 
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